Goodbye to the Cape, Off toward Kruger

     Our last few days in Mossel Bay with Carlene and her friends were a blur of parties and last minute sight seeing.  Carlene threw a BRAAI, or BBQ, inviting some of her nearest and dearest South Afrikaan friends.  It turned out to be the start of a few bad days of weather, so we moved it from the Yacht Club's beachfront to her house.  Denny and I were intrigued with these people's stories.  All are sixth to fourth generational South Afrikaans, with ancestors who came first as traders with the Dutch East India Company or during the late 1700s, early 1800s, with colonial expansion, or after the Anglo-Boer war with the creation of the Union of South Africa.  All live and work in South Africa with the rand as their economic base, they do not luxuriate on the higher trading US dollar, English pound or Euro. 

     It is difficult to know how to initiate a conversation with Carlene's friends until we realize that many of them were active participants in the fight against apartheid.   However each also has stories about how much better things were during that era than now.  South Africa appears to be on the verge, tipping precariously on the edge.  It could go the way of Zimbabwe or it could become the example of the future for successful African nations.  Key are the influences of Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk and their emphasis on forgiveness and the Freedom Charter, which paves the way for whites, blacks and coloreds (browns) to live and run South Africa together.

     As the traditional, rural black tribes people migrate into the cities for the promise of better lives, South African cities become overpopulated with no where near enough jobs and homes.  At first there were temporary "locations" for the new arrivals.  The government built "townships" which are rows and rows of cinderblock one room homes that at least have electricity and a water faucet.  "Squatter camps" grow up around the townships that are densely packed and basically shacks thrown together of whatever can be found.  At the opposite end of the scale there are South Afrikaan areas like Carlene lives in which are homes which we would be used to finding throughout middle class America and then there are the gated areas for the very rich from other countries.  These mansions stand out in contrast to the squatters camps, sometimes located on opposite sides of the same hill. 

     Unemployment among the blacks is very high with some estimates of 60%.  Whites claim that if they were to lose their jobs, they would never be able to get another.   Blacks have been placed in higher positions in all sorts of  places, but not given the proper training to be successful.  They have been set up for failure.  Many of these blacks, who can speak as many as five different languages including tribal dialects, Afrikaans, and English, have only a very basic education with no specific job training.  Others simply do not care to work as hard as it might take -- their culture has never been to drive toward what we would call success.  There are generations of blacks who came in from their tribal lands to work for whites that have been taken care of in all ways to the extent that they can not even recognise their need for independence.  I was in awe of their deference and willingness to help, their peacefulness and lethargy that could also be described as laziness if one did not know better.

     One of Carlene's friends has purchased land in several different parts of South Africa solely to preserve wildlife and save certain African secies from extinction.  On one "farm"  he bred eland until he had a healthy herd large enough to re-introduce them into a few national parks.   Another friend is a part owner of a private game reserve on the Botswana border.  These private reserves are interesting as while they do tend to preserve the animals, and have been successful at bringing certain species back from near extinction (such as bontebok and black impala) they are private.  This means that few can afford to visit them, blacks in particular.   As you can see, South Africa is a country of many juxtapositions.

     What stuck me as most odd and uncomfortable is that we rarely saw blacks as we traveled.  They do not own cars.  They can not afford to sightsee or vacation.  They are not enjoying the national parks, restaurants, and beaches that we visited.  They are sometimes there as servers and always there as gatekeepers, grounds men and cleaning ladies but there are very few traveling among us. 

     With an emotional goodbye at the George airport, we left the Cape for Johannesburg on Tuesday, March 6.  There we rented a car and drove NE toward Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital,  and into the Mpumalanga district toward Kruger National Park, South Africa's largest game park.  I can not describe our delight in finding such a spectacular area as we encountered there -- so much that we love with the grasslands giving way to hills, then mountains and the Great Escarpment.  We needed more time here!  The Blyde River Canyon is awesome with waterfall after waterfall and breathtaking views like "God's Window" and geological formations like "the Pinnacle."  We wended our way north through quaint villages where the township homes seem more comfortable,  being a bit larger and including more land, to Pilgrim's Rest, an old gold town, turned tourist center.  We stayed at the Royal Hotel which is still of Victorian decor, enjoyed their "living museum"  and had wonderful meals at their restaurant.  We met a neat Dutch lady traveling alone and had dinner, a nightcap in the pub, and then breakfast with her talking about traveling the world.  Particularly wonderful also was when the Zulu wait and cook staff began to dance and sing.  Pilgrim's Rest also had a wonderful outdoor craft market.  But I was most excited to get to bed for the next day we would enter KRUGER National Park, the reason I have always wanted to go to Africa...to see the animals!